Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion
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Opinion page editor Rick Holmes and other writers blog about national politics and issues. Holmes & Co. is a Blog for Independent Minds, a place for a free-flowing discussion of policy, news and opinion. This blog is the online cousin of the Opinion section of the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass. As such, our focus starts there and spreads to include Massachusetts, the nation and the world. Since successful blogs create communities of readers and writers, we hope the \x34& Co.\x34 will also come to include you.

Opponents raised a stink about posters like the one above on the city buses in Portland, Maine, but the First Amendment won. So did Question 1, which Portland voters approved Tuesday with 67 percent of voters casting “yes” ballots.

The campaign’s pitch – marijuana is better than beer – is likely to be repeated in campaigns to come. Liquor companies won’t be pleased, and I’m guessing will start funneling money to opposition groups.

And there will be more campaigns to come. The Maine folks will push for statewide legalization, and Massachusetts drug reformers announced today they will put legalization on the ballot in 2016. Why not 2014? I’m told the handful of millionaires who provide funding (George Soros, Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis, etc.) think the chances of success are greater with a presidential race on the ballot.